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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23602105">A Different Path</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star_Lite/pseuds/Star_Lite'>Star_Lite</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>New Overwatch Imagines [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Overwatch (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Normal Life, Angst, Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Love, Married Life, Normal Life, Origin Story, Past Relationship(s), Reader-Insert</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 01:13:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,491</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23602105</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star_Lite/pseuds/Star_Lite</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>You helped Gabriel follow a different path after the Swiss incident.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Reaper | Gabriel Reyes/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>New Overwatch Imagines [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1697278</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>32</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Different Path</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was pure chaos. The stomach churning sound of crippling screams and anguished crying wracked through your brain, whilst heavy ash floated down from the sky around you and smeared against your skin and feeling the overwhelming heat from the flames licking at your features.</p><p>This couldn’t be happening. It was too painful to watch as injured Overwatch members were carried from within the crumbling base. No… No, this all had to be some awful dream that you were going to wake up from at any moment, right? You just couldn’t bring yourself to believe that something like this could have happened to the people that you cared about the most.</p><p>The sound of shrieks erupted through the air as another part of the building crumbled to the ground nearby, having a large cloud of dust enveloping you which made you wheeze and cough as you squinted to try and watch as others moved to help rescue survivors that were buried beneath the rubble in the direction of nearby emergency workers.</p><p>For a moment you knelt on the ground dazed as your eyes flickered over the disaster zone that surrounded you. It had been a quick errand that had taken you away from base to a nearby disturbance, whilst you had been dealing with that you had been greeted by an almost deafening explosion which was followed by the ground shaking beneath your feet. By the time that you had arrived back to base you were greeted by the horrific sight of the Swiss base crumbling to the ground.</p><p>Gabriel. What about Gabe? Was it possible that he was still inside? You hadn’t seen him carried out of the collapsing base yet. No, this couldn’t be happening. There wasn’t a chance that you were just going to sit around and wait for someone else to possibly find him or for the building to fully collapse sealing his fate forever. You couldn’t lose him.</p><p>You pushed yourself off the ground and rushed towards the base quicker than your legs could carry you. Other members of your Overwatch team tried to stop you, but you fought to get past them, entering the smokey halls and quickly covering your mouth and nose with your shirt. The short way to Gabriel’s quarters was block off by rubble, others were already there picking through the collapsed building to try and get through but you weren’t going to wait and decided to go the long way around.</p><p>When you finally reached Gabriel’s room you pressed your hand to the door. “Gabe!” You coughed profusely. “Gabe!” You slammed your hands against the metal door that was no longer functional. “No, c’mon…” You spotted a nearby piece of rebar, jamming it into the sliver of space between the door and the frame and jerking it backwards until the door opened with a loud hiss, squeaking as it opened fully and allowing you to rush inside.</p><p>“Gabe!” You coughed. “Gabe!” It was then you saw a heap on the ground and rushed through the smoke towards it. “Gabriel, oh my god…” You wheezed as you dropped to your knees by his side. He was completely unconscious with blood seeping down the side of his face and legs pinned by some rubble. “No, no…” You quickly tended to covering his face and mouth with a nearby towel before moving to next start removing the rubble that was pinning his legs down.</p><p>As you continued to work tirelessly to unpin his legs you saw him begin to regain some consciousness, eyes fluttering open and focusing on you just for a moment. “You’re okay. You’re okay.” You breathed heavily. “I’m here.” Then he fell into unconsciousness again leaving you more time to work.</p><p>By the time that Gabriel’s legs were unpinned you moved to grab a nearby blanket and spreading it out besides Gabe. There was no way that you were going to be able to carry someone of Gabriel’s size. No, instead your plan was to drag him to safety. With that you very carefully rolled him onto the blanket, trying to make sure that he was as comfortable as possible before gripping the blanket hard and beginning to tug him across the ground and out through those smokey halls again.</p><p>You were exhausted by the time that you dragged Gabriel’s unconscious form through the entire burning base. As you finally reached the outside others sprinted towards you helping Gabriel completely out and it was only then that you allowed your exhaustion to overcome you, collapsing to the ground besides Gabriel hearing emergency workers surrounding yourself and then everything faded from around you.</p>
<hr/><p>The two of you were transported to a nearby hospital. After you regain consciousness you were discharged almost immediately but after that you didn’t leave Gabriel’s side. They had explained to you that he had inhaled a lot of smoke and his legs were damaged by the falling debris. It was difficult watching him being wheeled away in to surgery after surgery and being hooked up to different types of machines.</p><p>Every time that Gabriel was taken to one of his length surgeries you were left to just watch the news and listen to all the awful things they were saying about Overwatch. After this the entire system had fallen apart, each member had been scrutinised and  from that they had split apart and fell into the shadows to get away from the angry public eye. With both Jack and Ana now presumed dead it left Gabriel for the authorities to come after and that scared you more than anything.</p><p>It was after his first surgery that a set of agents came to visit, Gabriel was still recovery and was unable to answer question but they had grilled you on the incident, demanding you told them everything and you were honest with them answering that you didn’t know what happened, you were off base and when you came back it was chaos. They seemed skeptical but they left and promised to return once that Gabriel was conscious enough to answer their questions.</p><p>You managed to get to Gabriel before they did, after his third surgery Gabriel was in recovery, fully conscious and away of his surroundings, you explained to him everything that had happened from the incident to Overwatch going into hiding and last the authorities wanting to speak with him. It made Gabriel nervous and the two of you decided it would be best for you both to move on and go into hiding for a little while too.</p><p>It was the dead of night that you helped Gabriel remove all of the needles and wires that were attached to his body, helping him into a nearby wheelchair and the two of you left the hospital, going to a nearby motel for the night, bunkering down, hoping that you wouldn’t be followed and making plans to start a whole new life away from all this madness.</p>
<hr/><p>It took you both a while to settle into a new life back in America. You both pulled together all of your savings to by a little house in the middle of nowhere, Gabriel was mended enough to be able to turn his hand to farming, growing his own fruits and veg and even having a couple farm animals like chickens and a dairy cow. This whole life was so much more domestic than you were both used to, but it was something that you hadn’t realised that you had craved.</p><p>You had both lived in fear those first couple of years that your past was going to catch up with you but nobody came around. The two of you were mainly left on your own and that was what you had both wanted. You both kept up to date with the news, watching as the world turned against Overwatch and Talon began to sweep across the nations causing havoc and fear.</p><p>Gabriel was almost tempted to go back for a moment and fight against Talon, but it was almost as if the world told him not to as that evening you informed him that you were pregnant, test trembling in your grip and hand placed across your flat stomach. The thought of having a child was something that Gabriel never thought he would have, but here you were informing him that he was going to be a father. He felt blessed. He was overjoyed. It was the kick he needed to stay here with you in your humble little farmhouse on your tiny farm.</p><p>So you fell back into this normal life, you stopped watching the news, you turned away from Overwatch when they came calling once again and you focused on your family. It was selfish but after giving so much of yourselves over the years it felt right to give everything that you had now to your child and the life that they were going to continue to lead.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Requested on my blog https://overwatchimagine.tumblr.com/</p><p>Please feel free to swing by there to make a request or read my other imagines!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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